As this issue of Government Technology goes to press, communities in Oklahoma are recovering from a devastating series of tornadoes that struck in late May. Entire neighborhoods were leveled, more than 30 people lost their lives, and many more lost their homes and belongings.

The tragic events once again showed how technology can be critical to emergency response and recovery efforts. The state of Oklahoma quickly launched a disaster relief portal with interactive maps showing damaged areas and the location of aid resources. In addition, the site — dubbed OKStrong — includes tools to help residents recover lost pets and find irreplaceable items like family photographs and other keepsakes.

OKLAHOMA CITY – A bill signing ceremony for House Bill 1989, the Student Data Accessibility, Transparency and Accountability Act (Student DATA Act), was held today at the State Capitol. This new law establishes Oklahoma as a leader in student privacy. The bill establishes new procedures and safeguards for the collection and use of student data by our public school system.

The Student DATA Act requires the State Board of Education to publicly set policies and establish safeguards for student data collected by the State Department of Education. Student data privacy has been handled largely at the staff level within the Department.

Although government 2.0 has been around since Bill Eggers’ 2005 book Government 2.0, the term truly took over in 2008. After President Barack Obama’s 2008 election, his first memorandum in office was the Open Government Directive with its three pillars of creating a more transparent, participatory and collaborative government. This framework quickly spread from federal government down to state and local government and across the nation.

OK.gov is the official website of the state of Oklahoma and a collaborative effort between the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES) and Oklahoma Interactive, LLC to help Oklahoma government entities Web-enable their information services. OMES is responsible for OK.gov. Oklahoma Interactive operates, maintains, and markets OK.gov and is part of eGovernment firm NIC’s (NASDAQ: EGOV) family of companies.